


Replacement

by Miri1984



Category: The Magnus Archives (Podcast)
Genre: Gen, Statement
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-03-09
Updated: 2019-03-09
Packaged: 2019-11-14 06:52:25
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 638
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18047660
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Miri1984/pseuds/Miri1984
Summary: Gertrude makes her final statement.





	Replacement

CLICK

**The Archivist:** Case 0150515 Gertrude Robinson. Incident ongoing. Committed to tape direct from subject, Gertrude Robinson recording.

It’s obvious whom Elias is grooming to replace me. Funny, that he can think he has no preference for type, but he hasn’t been trained, for all the Eye’s power, to recognise that glint of need in the eyes of a man who wants. Not that I’ve had to do that for myself for years now, but he forgets that I was young once and saw it in the eyes of men who were capable of holding disgust and lust in their hearts simultaneously.

There is no disgust in the way that Elias looks at him, however.

He’s a skinny thing. All bones and seriousness. He seems kind hearted though, in that terribly awkward way that is endemic in young men who believe knowledge can somehow solve the world’s problems. He’s definitely been touched by a power, possibly the Vast, or maybe the Lonely at some point, perhaps that’s why Elias is so keen to claim him. The Eye has always been jealous.

I wish I could bring myself to be more worried about what will happen when I am gone. They are all so very young, and so very ignorant, and I cannot risk leaving the clues to what needs to be done any more clearly than I have already. It is hard enough to fool the eye into believing that I am loyal. In the end, perhaps my replacement… what was his name again? Jon. [a pause, Gertrude draws a dissatisfied breath and then lets it out] No “h”. I never did understand why people altered the spelling as though we would be too stupid to understand how it’s pronounced. It’s a young person thing, I suppose. Something Americans started - doing away with letters because they thought it would throw off the yoke of colonialism, not realising that it had them far too tightly in its grip. Jonathan Sims. He most certainly is not American, however, for which I can be a little grateful, there are still some parts of me that cling to the woman I was before the Archives. I wonder if he will be able to hold on to as many parts of himself as I have? Probably. Possibly more. It’s hard to visualise those thin arms wielding a pair of bolt cutters, or dragging a corpse.

[chuckles] Strange. I do believe that’s the first time I’ve ever felt proud of what I’ve been forced to do over the past fifty years. At least my replacement… at least _Jon_ won’t have to cut up a body in order to defeat the Buried. Although I highly doubt he has the fortitude to do what is necessary to deal with the Unknowing.

[there is a pause, and a deep sigh] In the end it doesn’t matter, though. Not to me.

I can hope. I can hope that he will use the knowledge he is given to see the monstrosity in all of their plans. I can hope that he will see the dangers inherent in the powers he will be given and deny them. I can hope he will… do better with his assistants. If there is one thing I regret it is…

[long pause]

I digress. But that is what this whole statement is, really, isn't it? A digression. A distraction. I would remind myself why it is necessary, but I think I’m past the point of bothering. I have managed to hold off the knowledge for a time, but there is too much delight in  _ this _ knowledge, too much keen triumph.

The Eye wants me to know. It wants me to know that Elias is coming. It is particularly insistent on providing me with this additional detail: that today, Elias has brought a gun.

CLICK


End file.
